Making regular blog posts while underway, coupled with sporadic and unreliable internet connectivity, has been, well, a bit of a challenge.
On the bright side, I have been dutifully making notes in a journal, so here is a recap of our recent adventures in island hopping.
Setting Out
We did finally leave Simpson Bay Lagoon, and St. Maarten. It is a great place with some really great people, but it was time to move on. Sitting idle and waiting patiently (sometimes with actual patience) for Peter to build our radar arch was an exercise in passivity and island time. But he did deliver in the end, and Archie is beautiful.
After basically 3 months in the Lagoon, we eased into sea life by spending one night outside in Simpson Bay. After Lagoon living, including some time on the dock (the awesome Lagoon Marina), even the gentle rolls of the bay required some adjusting to for those with sensitive stomachs.
It also gave Moss the chance to clean all the barnacles and sponges off the hull. It was a big job and took half a day. But we set off to St. Kitts the next day, passing St. Barts off the port side, Saba off starboard, and St. Eustatius (Statia) off port.
In the open water, we managed up to 7 knots, at times 8, but in the lee of the islands we would drop to 5. It was a 60 nm leg and we learned that this is pretty much our limit for a day sail. The wind was fine at 15-20 knots, and the swells were 1-2m. It was spectacular watching the islands come into and out of view, showing off vast rock faces and long dormant, canopy covered volcanoes.
St. Kitts
We anchored our first night in Basseterre, at the deep water dock. This is a slightly industrial spot, so after a day (and a visit to the impressive Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park – an old British fort that is now a very well preserved UNESCO World Heritage Site), we hopped south to White House Bay. This anchorage is much more rural (quiet at night), and is situated just outside the big salt pond that is being developed into a huge marina. For the moment though, it is just a salt pond, with a dirt road around it and a brightly painted sales office.
Nevis
Nevis is a lush, green, beautiful island with graceful slopes that rise up to a single peak, Mount Nevis, an extinct volcano. We anchored at the foot of it at the north end of Pinney’s Beach.
It was Sunday when we arrived and everything was closed in the one town, Charlestown, except the Chinese tea house. The town itself is old and very picturesque with little winding streets, stone buildings, and cute little town squares. Moss returned to town the next day to check us out of customs, and he found a bustling place with friendly fruit stand ladies who told him how to prepare some local ground provisions (cassava) and salt fish. The forecast was good, so we set out on the next leg, to Monserrat.